Branches left scratches on his face as warren tore through the forest faster than he thought possible. He was experiencing the benefits of extra agility firsthand as he noticed he wasn't just running faster. His sense of balance seemed to have improved and so had his ability to take in and act on what was approaching him. Both very welcome abilities since moving at this speed otherwise would probably just end with him running into a tree face first.
[Tireless] had to be fairly effective since he didn't think he’d normally be able to run at top speed for nearly 5 minutes but he was still going strong, and so were the damn bugs for that matter. A quick glance behind confirmed the small horde was still chasing him although he seemed to have gained a little distance since he last checked
Leaping over a fallen log Warren racked his brain for a way out. He felt pretty confident at taking another small one, hell maybe even two but he was not about to tangle with the horse-sized ones, trying the first thing that came to mind he swung the duffel bag off his back as he ran
Reaching into it blindly he pulled out the first thing he felt, pulling it out revealed it to be a bag full of mini powdered doughnuts, which he promptly tore open and threw somewhere to his left as hard as he could. Another quick glance behind revealed two of the bugs had turned, presumably following the smell
Feeling a surge of relief his plan had worked, he dug into the bag and repeated the act, this time with a bag of mini pretzels. Glancing behind he saw another few bugs start to turn, until one of the giant ones let out a series of chittering noises and they turned back to chasing him.
Okay so that was out, well at least he got rid of two of them with it, putting his mind back to work Warren kept running occasionally peeking behind him to keep tabs on his pursuers until he saw something curious
There had been a constant distressing series of chitters, yelps, and other unidentifiable noises from the bugs as they chased him, but as he turned around he saw a small but persistent stream of mist rising from one of the larger bugs.
Which, thinking a little more closely made sense, he knew animals tended to have a rough time regulating their body temperature, and something that big was surely no different. It was also the height of summer, and while Warren himself seemed strangely okay it had to be close to a hundred degrees outside, and he didn't think the second sun was helping matters either.
No matter the science behind it, the bugs were overheating. And while he didn't think it would kill the damn things it gave him a way out. Which meant as long as he could outlive the damn things he’d be safe, for a little bit.
And so he continued to run like hell. Not stopping when one of the bugs managed to catch up to him somehow, nearly toppling him as it leaped towards him, nor when a massive bird swooped out of nowhere and grabbed it as he ran away. He didn't stop when a branch he had missed smacked him in the face, and he sure as hell did not stop when the giant bug in the middle used a clawed limb to fucking throw one of the smaller ones at him.
It missed, thankfully, but it saddled him with an immense desire to be anywhere else on the damned planet that made his previous dissatisfaction with his circumstances seem insignificant. But, against all odds, he kept running.
And running, and running, and running, until eventually, things changed. The crab-thing that had thrown one of its brethren let out a yelp that sounded different to the ones he’d previously heard
Taking another look behind, he saw one of the big bastards tumbling to a stop as its legs gave out and it collapsed mid stride
Seeing this, Warren began laughing hysterically and throwing insults at the bugs as he ran. He verbally abused the bugs to the best of his ability as the other two giant ones fell motionless, though he noticed the third one lasted significantly longer. At roughly the same time as it fell, however, he noticed the smaller bugs entering the same process the larger ones had just finished.
Laughing to himself at the thought of taking revenge on the bugs since his throat was sore from his tirade, Warren glanced at the bugs after running for a while longer to see how many were left. He felt a surge of relief at seeing there were only three left, only for it to be cut short as he ran headfirst into a low hanging branch while his head was turned.
Scrambling to his feet he just barely managed to roll away from the first crabs charge, spinning around in time to see the second mid leap towards his chest. In a panic he abandoned all tactics and swung the spike like a baseball bat knocking the thing, they were surprisingly light, into a nearby tree.
Turning to face the third one he charged one of them for a change, he failed to hit the eye once more but this time his strike missed the seemingly random plates of armor sinking deep into the creatures flesh. He tried to lever the spike around in the wound to cause further damage but before he made any meaningful progress the first one tackled him from behind, he managed to keep a grip on the spike however and the force of the shove turned the creatures wound from a puncture to a gaping wound the size of Warren’s head
[Congratulations! You have slain a Monocular Mite]
‘Huh, so that's what they're called’ Warren pushed back the errant thought alongside the urge to puke at the sight of the fallen mite knowing that either could spell his death. Eyeing the one that had just rammed into his back and the other one which seemed to still be recovering from his earlier swing he made a split second decision and rushed the one at his back.
By this point he had noticed that while the creatures were by no means weak they weren't especially sturdy, thanks to this it needed a few moments longer to shake off the impact than he did. A precious few moments that he used to ram the spike hilt deep into its eye confirming his suspicions with another whisper from the void
[Congratulations! You have slain a Monocular Mite]
Laughing triumphantly as he pulled the spike out of the dead mite and turned to the final barrier to his safety. Holding the spike firmly in his right hand he made what he hoped the creature would consider a taunting gesture with his left, and watched horrified as fury lit up the mites single green pupil with fiery light, followed by the same eerie green light glowing under the creatures skin before a jet of flames flew from the creatures hind legs propelling it towards him at a unreactable speed
Attempting in vain to retract his hand before he was made to face the consequences of his actions he barely managed to move his hand an inch before the thing was on him, he felt its clawed limbs grasp his arm, heard a loud *CRUNCH* and the world went white with pain.
Desperately fighting his body's urge to blackout and escape the pain he took the spike in his remaining hand and repeated his earlier magic trick of turning a crab demon into a slimy mush. In fact warren was so focused on this dutiful task he failed to register the voice telling him he had leveled up, and also the new hand that had woven itself from sparks of light as he received the message
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Calming down after beating the dead mite for a few more minutes he finally was able to catch his breath. Looking down at the fresh hand he realized how close that fight had been. If the level up hadn’t restored his hand he'd probably just be bleeding out in the grass right now. He guessed he'd probably been in shock or something similar when everything started judging by how nothing had seemed to faze him up to this point.
It was however starting to catch up to him, the train crash was bad enough but he could have dealt with that, and honestly he probably could have handled just that first mite. But getting chased through the damn forest by a dozen of them and getting his damn hand chewed off was to be frank a bit much for his tastes.
He had been hunting before and he wasn't a stranger to fights but currently he had neither a firearm nor the threat of societal retribution to stop anything going further than a beating. While he had always told himself he wasn't an arrogant or overconfident person the last half hour had shown how quickly that fact could change and he needed to hammer it through his skull. That while he may be able to adapt quicker than most, or at least he hoped he was, e still had no idea how ‘The System’ for lack of a better term operated and he knew even less about what the monsters he would face were capable of
Brushing himself off he sighed and looked back the way he had come. Warren had failed to keep track of the railroad during his mad dash but if he backtracked enough he'd be able to see the tracks once more and follow them to Carter assuming he didn't run into anything stronger than a mite during the journey
Remembering that had received a few notices while sprinting he chanted ‘Status’ causing a wall of glowing blue screens to pop into existence
[Congratulations! You have slain a Monocular Mite]
[Congratulations! You have slain a Monocular Mite]
[Congratulations! You have slain a Monocular Mite]
[Congratulations! You have slain a Monocular Mite]
[Congratulations! You have reached level 2!]
[You have learned a new skill: Dash]
[Dash has leveled up]
[Dash has leveled up]
[Dash has leveled up]
[You have learned a new skill: Stab]
[Stab has leveled up]
[Stab has leveled up]
[Name: Warren Kingsbrook]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Unearned]
[Soul: Unawakened (???)]
[Level: 2]
HP: 25/30
MP: 25
STM: 15
STR: 4 (+2)
AGI: 6 (+3)
VIT: 6
CON: 3
INT: 7
MNT: 5
LCK: 10 (+1)
2 Status Points Available
[Renown: 0]
— Class —
— Titles —
[Champion Select]
— Skills —
[Tireless lvl: 1] [Dash lvl 4] [Stab lvl 3]
— Archetype —
Lucky Bastard: A talent for the untalented
* Increases the effect of LCK
—- Evaluation —
‘[Almost got done in by a few bugs? Some Champion you are huh?]
Ignoring the snark from the system he glanced at his two new skills, eyes opening in surprise as two new screens popped up as he focused on them.
[Dash]
Skill Type: General
Activation: Passive
Description: Run the race of life
[Stab]
Skil Type: Martial
Activation: Active
Description: Plant the flower of violence
[Champion Select]
The world has named you a defender, prove your might in the Contest of Champions
+2 STR
+3 AGI
+1 LCK
Receive the acknowledgement of the world
Huh, well that was ominous and far too vague to be helpful. He had already assumed he'd be forced to fight from the initial messages but that confirmed it. It also explained the bonuses he’d seen next to his stats.
The stats didn’t hurt but there was no indication of what receiving the acknowledgement of the world meant but he hoped it would be useful one way or another. Well at least he could gain a little bit of insight into his skills even if he didn't know exactly what they did
Pushing the unhelpful worries to the back of his head Warren tried to figure out ways to gain skills that would help him on his journey. He wasn't sure what determined how skills were granted but he felt anything that would be extremely useful would be somewhat difficult to acquire. Either way [Dash] would be a lifesaver since combined with [Tireless] he should be able to make pretty damn good time on his journey.
All in all if he discarded considerations on how he’d almost died three different times in as many hours things were looking up. He had enough food or so he hoped and with his skills he might not be able to run non-stop but he wouldn't have to slow down to more than just a walking speed to regain energy. In the end it all depended on how much work his new skills and bonus stats could carry him. Glancing up at the sky and deciding he had taken long enough he swung the twisted steel spike onto his shoulder, dumped the two points he had received for leveling into [CON] hoping it would help him run for longer and sauntered off back towards the crash whistling a tune as he went.